Our family loves to cook. We're always trying new recipes. The only problem is that when you try so many recipes, it's hard to keep track of them all! So, we're going to post and share our recipe favorites here--both old and new.

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Friday, August 15, 2014

Summer Pies

We decided to mix things up a little with our pie night and do it in the summer instead of the fall. We had a salad bar for dinner and then a bunch of pies for dessert. Here are the ones we tried this time.

Microwave butter in large microwaveable bowl on high for 30 seconds, or until melted. Add dry gelatin mix and marshmallows; toss to coat. Microwave 1 min. or until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is blended, stirring after 45 seconds. Add cereal; mix well.

Press cereal mixture onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate sprayed with cooking spray.

Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 minutes; pour into crust. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Garnish with strawberries, if desired.

Recipe notes: You can prepare using vanilla flavor instant pudding and your favorite flavor of gelatin. You can also substitute raspberries for the halved strawberries.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add half-and-half, and mix well.

Combine whole milk and egg yolks in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk; add to sugar mixture, and whisk to combine well. Stir in vanilla.

Pour mixture into prepared crust and sprinkle nutmeg over top. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until filling is set and lightly browned. Cool completely before serving.

Recipe notes: This simple custard pie originated in the 1800s as a way to use ingredients typically on hand: butter, flour, and sugar or maple syrup. Similar to the Hoosier Pie is the Pennsylvania Chess Pie; both were created, it's believed, by Shaker and Amish cooks.

Source: MyRecipes.com. Oxmoor House, October 2013. You can find it here.

Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a food processor, process butter and one-third of the coconut until mixture forms a ball, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Sprinkle remaining two-thirds coconut over mixture and combine with your fingers.

Place a 9-inch pie plate on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Press coconut mixture into bottom and up sides of pan to form crust, leaving top edges loose and fluffy. Place a foil ring over edge to prevent burning. Bake until center begins to brown, 10 to 15 minutes; remove foil and bake until edges are browned, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer crust to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling: Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Let sit 10 minutes, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is combined. Pour into coconut crust. Refrigerate until filling is set, 1 hour, or up to 1 day.

Makes one 9-inch pie.

Source: I originally found this on the Martha Stewart website, but it doesn't appear to be there anymore. You can find it here.

Mix graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar together in a bowl. Shape inside 9" pie plate. If crust is too crumbly, ad a small amount of butter so crumbs will hold together. Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool.

Combine ricotta, confectioner's sugar, and almond extract in a bowl and set aside.

Combine almonds and chocolate. Chop together in a food processor; do not chop too fine.

Fold together cheese mix and chopped almond and chocolate and chill.

Whip heavy cream until stiff. Fold into ricotta and chocolate mix half at a time.

Spoon into chilled crust and let sit overnight before serving.

Serve with chocolate sauce, if desired.

Source: This is an actual Olive Garden recipe found on their site. You can fine it here. Their recipe site used to be a lot more user friendly than it is now though.

To prepare the crust, reserve 1 tablespoon crumbs for topping. Combine the remaining crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well. Stir in egg white an dbutter. Press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees F for 9 minutes or until lightly toasted; cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare filling, combine 1/2 cup sugar, and the next 7 ingredients (through egg yolk) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place the milk in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until milk reaches 180 degrees F or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Gradually add hot milk to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan; cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; stir until smooth.

Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 10 minutes or until mixture cools, stirring occasionally. Spoon filling into crust, and cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill for 3 hours or until set; remove plastic wrap. Spread the whipped topping over filling; sprinkle with reserved cracker crumbs.

1 comment:

For the Mexican Chocolate, I was very lazy and used a purchased shell. Therefore, I took the cinnamon and added it to the chocolate. It had such a great flavor. The peach was bad because it turned out we bought the peaches from a store that shall remain un-named and then they had a recall on the peaches. I loved the ricotta. That and the mexican chocolate were my favorite. These were fun and easy pies to make. Summer Pie night shall continue to live on!